The internet and has opened up the teaching profession, with new opportunities for both teachers and learners. Online teaching jobs are now widely available, with qualified teachers and online tutors able to help learners in a variety of ways. Online teaching jobs can be found to suit the service provider’s abilities and preferences, offering a new set of career paths in the field of education.

If seeking online teaching jobs is a new avenue for you, the first question you will ask will probably be ‘Do I have the qualifications?’, or ‘What qualifications do I need to have to be an online tutor? That will depend partly on what and whom you plan to teach.

Do I need formal qualifications?

For some online teaching jobs, some agencies and learners will require degree-level qualifications in a subject area, and some will also require a teaching diploma or similar certification. If you want to become an online tutor for undergraduate students, a Masters degree in your subject is likely to be a minimum requirement. Membership of a professional body may also be helpful in establishing your competence.

Formal qualifications will be a great help to anyone seeking online teaching jobs but there are openings for people who want to become online tutors. As well as teaching subject content, there are openings for online tutors to help school-age learners with homework or with a revision or test prep routine. Though that will typically require some subject competence, the online tutor’s role will be partly supervisory, helping the learner to keep to a schedule and assisting them with independent working (not doing the work for them!). Student teachers may find openings of this kind for online tutors, even though they have not yet completed their studies.

Alternative or equivalent qualifications

In some cases, demonstrable experience can be as good as formal qualifications in a subject or in teaching itself. For example, people who have successfully home-schooled their own children may be well qualified to become online tutors for other people’s children.

Proven expertise in a subject can also be a substitute for a degree or diploma. Online teaching jobs assisting adult learners are plentiful. Many of these learners are not seeking to acquire qualifications, but take courses or seek online tutoring as a matter of self-development. Someone wanting online tutoring in water color painting or photography may get what they need from an established artist or hobbyist, regardless of whether they have the paper certification.

When qualifications are vital

Learners seek online tutoring for a variety of reasons. In some cases, they will be looking for very specific qualifications. One scenario in which parents seek to hire online tutors is when children are struggling in school. Online tutoring of children with learning difficulties will typically require the online tutor to have specialist training, documented experience and perhaps testimonials as well.

Signing up for online teaching and online tutoring jobs

Some agencies advertising online teaching jobs have particular specifications with regards to qualifications, the hours an online tutor will be expected to put in per week, and so on. Others are more flexible, providing a service that helps learners to find an online tutor to suit them, with details of hours, payment negotiable between the parties.

Of course, those seeking online teaching jobs will find more opportunities if they have formal qualifications as well as a track record of experience in their subject or educational field. However, online tutoring is not only for graduates with diplomas in education and would-be online tutors with appropriate skills are likely to find a niche for them.